RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 3, 2010 (IPS) - Sugarcane could replace the energy produced by three hydroelectric dams like the Belo Monte in the Amazon, claims the Brazilian sugarcane industry, which remains relegated to marginal participation in the national electricity matrix.Brazil's sugarcane straw and pulp could generate 12,200 megawatts, while the Belo Monte dam, to be built on the northern Amazonian Xingú River, will generate just 4,571 megawatts on average, according to UNICA, the sugarcane industry association, in the southern state of São Paulo. UNICA members concentrate about 60 percent of sugar and ethanol production in this country, a world leader in biofuels. The Belo Monte dam will in fact have a maximum capacity of 11,233 megawatts, but can only guarantee 40 percent of that because its reservoir will not store great volumes of water, and the flow of the Xingú declines sharply during the dry season -- which lasts most of the year. These factors of fluctuation, which affect all hydroelectric dams in the Amazon, are particularly marked in this case. One advantage of electricity generated from plant biomass like sugarcane is precisely its ability to complement hydro-energy, given that the cane harvest -- between April and November -- coincides with the period of least rain in which the dams have to reduce energy production.
Lima (AFP) Sept 1, 2010 The Amazon, the world's biggest river, is at its lowest level in over 40 years near its source in northeastern Peru, causing havoc in a region where it is used as the only form of travel, authorities said. According to officials in Loreto province, the Amazon on Tuesday in the northeast city of Iquitos fell to 105.97 meters (347.67 feet) above sea level, 50 cm (1.6 feet) lower than it was in 2005, so far the lowest reference point in four decades. Low levels have brought economic havoc in areas of Peru that depend on the Amazon for shipping, by denying boats a navigable river as well as usable ports and harbors. At least six boats became stranded for lack of river flow over the last three weeks and several shipping companies have been forced to suspend service, said regional civil defense chief Roberto Falcon.
According to officials in Loreto province, the Amazon on Tuesday in the northeast city of Iquitos fell to 105.97 meters (347.67 feet) above sea level, 50 cm (1.6 feet) lower than it was in 2005, so far the lowest reference point in four decades.
Low levels have brought economic havoc in areas of Peru that depend on the Amazon for shipping, by denying boats a navigable river as well as usable ports and harbors.
At least six boats became stranded for lack of river flow over the last three weeks and several shipping companies have been forced to suspend service, said regional civil defense chief Roberto Falcon.
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Sep 03, 2010 The fear that global temperature can change very quickly and cause dramatic climate changes that may have a disastrous impact on many countries and populations is great around the world. But what causes climate change and is it possible to predict future climate change? New research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen shows that it may be due to an accumulation of different chaotic influences and as a result would be difficult to predict. The results have just been published in Geophysical Research Letters. For millions of years the Earth's climate has alternated between about 100,000 years of ice age and approximately 10-15,000 years of a warm climate like we have today. The climate change is controlled by the Earth's orbit in space, that is to say the Earth's tilt and distance from the sun. But there are also other climatic shifts in the Earth's history and what caused those?
For millions of years the Earth's climate has alternated between about 100,000 years of ice age and approximately 10-15,000 years of a warm climate like we have today. The climate change is controlled by the Earth's orbit in space, that is to say the Earth's tilt and distance from the sun. But there are also other climatic shifts in the Earth's history and what caused those?
Moscow (AFP) Sept 2, 2010 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia would not lift a ban on grain exports before next year's harvest, extending the major world producer's embargo until at least mid-2011. "I believe it's necessary to note that we will only be able to consider lifting the grain export ban after next year's harvest ... and we have clarity on the balances," Putin said. "We cannot just keep lurching back and forth," he said at a government meeting in televised remarks. Putin gave no specific timeframe and his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, only confirmed that the ban would not be lifted on December 31.
"I believe it's necessary to note that we will only be able to consider lifting the grain export ban after next year's harvest ... and we have clarity on the balances," Putin said.
"We cannot just keep lurching back and forth," he said at a government meeting in televised remarks.
Putin gave no specific timeframe and his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, only confirmed that the ban would not be lifted on December 31.
A company controlled by the billionaire Koch brothers, who have bankrolled numerous right-wing causes, has donated $1 million to the campaign to pass Proposition 23, the California ballot initiative that would suspend the state's global-warming law. The contribution was made Thursday and came from Flint Hills Resources, a Kansas petrochemical company that is a subsidiary of Koch Industries. The Koch brothers were the subject of a recent profile in The New Yorker.The Koch donation came a day after Tesoro, a Texas oil company that has been bankrolling the pro-Prop 23 campaign, put $1 million into the campaign coffers. According to the No campaign, 97 percent of the $8.2 million raised by the Yes forces has been given by oil-related interests and 89 percent of that money has come from out of state. Three companies, Koch Industries, Tesoro, and Valero -- another Texas-based oil company -- have provided 80 percent of those funds.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 2, 2010) -- A chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians shows that they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer. The finding is the strongest evidence yet that the art of making antibiotics, which officially dates to the discovery of penicillin in 1928, was common practice nearly 2,000 years ago. The research, led by Emory anthropologist George Armelagos and medicinal chemist Mark Nelson of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. "We tend to associate drugs that cure diseases with modern medicine," Armelagos says. "But it's becoming increasingly clear that this prehistoric population was using empirical evidence to develop therapeutic agents. I have no doubt that they knew what they were doing." Armelagos is a bioarcheologist and an expert on prehistoric and ancient diets. In 1980, he discovered what appeared to be traces of tetracycline in human bones from Nubia dated between A.D. 350 and 550, populations that left no written record. The ancient Nubian kingdom was located in present-day Sudan, south of ancient Egypt. .... Nelson, a leading expert in tetracycline and other antibiotics, became interested in the project after hearing Armelagos speak at a conference. "I told him to send me some mummy bones, because I had the tools and the expertise to extract the tetracycline," Nelson says....The results stunned Nelson. "The bones of these ancient people were saturated with tetracycline, showing that they had been taking it for a long time," he says. "I'm convinced that they had the science of fermentation under control and were purposely producing the drug."
The research, led by Emory anthropologist George Armelagos and medicinal chemist Mark Nelson of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
"We tend to associate drugs that cure diseases with modern medicine," Armelagos says. "But it's becoming increasingly clear that this prehistoric population was using empirical evidence to develop therapeutic agents. I have no doubt that they knew what they were doing."
Armelagos is a bioarcheologist and an expert on prehistoric and ancient diets. In 1980, he discovered what appeared to be traces of tetracycline in human bones from Nubia dated between A.D. 350 and 550, populations that left no written record. The ancient Nubian kingdom was located in present-day Sudan, south of ancient Egypt.
....
Nelson, a leading expert in tetracycline and other antibiotics, became interested in the project after hearing Armelagos speak at a conference. "I told him to send me some mummy bones, because I had the tools and the expertise to extract the tetracycline," Nelson says....The results stunned Nelson. "The bones of these ancient people were saturated with tetracycline, showing that they had been taking it for a long time," he says. "I'm convinced that they had the science of fermentation under control and were purposely producing the drug."
"I'm convinced that they had the science of fermentation under control and were purposely producing the drug."
Fermentation under control ... fine. Purposely producing the drug (?)... something they had NO idea existed, in fact, they had no IDEA what EXISTED meant ...? Dear Mr. Scientist: Stick to your lab, do your analysis work, and then STFU. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
they drunk beer and wine because it was safer than water, which would have all sorts of disease and parasites in it. Also boiling, which is a feature of beer making, further disinfects it. Alcohol gets rid of bad stuff too. So all in all, beer and iwne were amazing god-granted liqids.
They thought it was miraculous that a liquid could change like that, to them it was literally a work of divine grace. It was the breath of god, which they would notice because yeast give off CO2 which is heavy and feel dense, so the brewing room would have a funny atmosphere, breathing too much of god's divine breath was fatal so that was a proof of sorts.
That's why getting drunk was such a feature of religious ceremonies, gods of beer and wine.
So,as Twank points out, the chances of them doing this deliberately are somewhere close ot zero. keep to the Fen Causeway
